Odell Pollard
Encyclopedia
Odell Pollard is a retired attorney in Searcy
, the seat of White County
in central Arkansas
, who was a pioneer in the revitalization of the Republican Party
in his state.
Union Hill in Independence County, Arkansas, to Joseph Franklin Pollard (1895–1981) and the former Beulah Scantlin (1893–1977) He attended a one-room school and then graduated from Oil Trough High School in a community with the unlikely name of Oil Trough
in Independence County. He attended two years of liberal arts
instruction at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
and then entered the United States Navy
. While in the military, he studied engineering subjects at Mississippi College
in Clinton
, Mississippi
. He also studied for a time at Tulane University
in New Orleans
but did not receive a bachelor’s degree. Instead he received a law degree in January 1950 from the University of Arkansas. On April 29, 1950, his 23rd birthday, he began a 55-year law practice in Searcy. In his later years, he specialized in estate planning
, insurance
defense, and product failure issues.
until 1958, when he voted in his last primary of that party, the nomination of which was for more than a century the equivalent to election in Arkansas. His disillusionment with the Democratic Party began in 1951, when he attended the Young Democrats National Convention in St. Louis
, Missouri
. Having seen election corruption in Arkansas throughout the 1950s, he switched parties with the hope of bringing forth political competition. As free enterprises flourishes with many choices in the market, so could government, he reasoned. In 1958, Pollard exposed a voter corruption case in Bald Knob
, a small city near Searcy in White County. Election workers cast "absentee ballots" for some thirty pipeline construction workers and their spouses. However, these workers were outside of Arkansas at the time of the election, which included a prohibition
measure on the ballot, and they did not cast absentee votes, according to their affidavits, presented by Pollard to the White County prosecutor, who declined to take action until after the statute of limitations
had expired, at which time the charges were rendered moot.
, then the mayor
of Little Rock
. Six years later, he supported Henry M. Britt
, the Republican nominee for governor, later a judge in Garland County. Both Remmel and Britt waged their races against Democrat Orval E. Faubus.
On one occasion, Pollard visited Faubus' home in Huntsville
in Madison County
in northwestern Arkansas, where he was shown Faubus’ impressive display of state newspapers touching on all aspects of the former governor’s political career. Pollard said that Faubus immediately found newspaper articles in which Pollard had criticized Faubus' policies and showed them to his guest in jest. Pollard said that he learned that Faubus had become disillusioned with some of his former political allies who defected in 1974 to David H. Pryor, Faubus’ successful intraparty rival in the gubernatorial primary.
By 1964, Pollard was active in the Winthrop Rockefeller
campaign, but Rockefeller also lost that year to Faubus.
of Conway
in Faulkner County, the first Arkansas Republican to hold the state's top executive position since Reconstruction. Pollard served as state party chairman from 1966–1970, corresponding with the Rockefeller years. Years later, he described Rockefeller as "a dedicated man who tried to do a lot of good for the state of Arkansas. He and I saw things exactly the same way."
Because Arkansas state Republican chairman John Paul Hammerschmidt
, a businessman from Harrison
and a Medal of Honor
winner, was elected to Congress in 1966, an election was held by state GOP committee members on December 10 of that year to choose a new party leader. Pollard, the party's general counsel, ran. So did the North Little Rock
veterinarian
Wayne H. Babbitt
, the sitting vice chairman. Four days before the election, however, Babbitt withdrew in Pollard's favor but with a warning: "It saddens me greatly to witness the strife and controversy that has been created by the race for chairmanship of our party. . . . We can ill afford the price of such unnecessary fighting among ourselves. It this doesn't cease at once, a sharp division in our ranks will be created that could last for years to come."
There was no ideological split between Pollard and Babbitt. The Rockefeller aide, Everett Ham, said that Babbitt "rubbed Win {Rockefeller} the wrong way, and that's who got the election." The since defunct Arkansas Gazette
called Pollard "the voice of compromise," who though allied with the more liberal side of the party had also worked well with the conservative faction.As chairman, Pollard urged caution regarding Republican patronage: "Let us be sure that we do not ask the governor to appoint people who would not be good public servants," a position also held by Hammerschmidt.
Pollard and the Republican State Committee instructed county chairmen to appoint special committees to handle recommendations for state job appointments at the county level. These committees were also told to consider Democratic and African American
input in the selections. In January 1967, Pollard rejected the composition of the special committee in Conway County, with the view that it did not reflect the campaign organization which worked for Rockefeller's election. Most of the state jobs were assigned to Democrats, a sore point with many Republican county chairmen.One Republican county chairman, angered over a Rockefeller Democratic appointment to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, vowed in anger to work against the Republican Party in the next election.It was reported in May 1970 that of 476 Rockefeller appointees to state boards and commission, only 86 had contributed money to the state Republican party.
Pollard noted that Rockefeller appointed the first African Americans to many state and local offices, including the Arkansas Selective Service System
boards. By 1967, Arkansas was second in the ratio of white-to-black draft board members. In Little Rock, 28 percent of the draft board consisted of blacks, and all were Rockefeller appointees.Pollard also urged his party to be "flexible" to make it easier to elect the party's national ticket as well as Republicans in state races.
Before he left the chairmanship, Pollard disclosed that Rockefeller was financing one third of the Republican state budget for 1968 and had given even more to the party committee in the past. But he did not reveal the exact extent of Rockefeller's financial aid. Rockefeller had also permitted the party to rent space at a vastly reduced rate in his Tower Building in Little Rock.
Pollard was recommended for a vacant U.S. District Court judgeship in Little Rock, but the appointment from President Nixon went to G. Thomas Eisele, another Rockefeller partisan. State Court Judge Henry M. Britt had also been considered to fill the vacancy.
Pollard was a delegate to the 1968
and, while no longer chairman, to the 1972
Republican national conventions in Miami Beach
, Florida
. In 1972, he was the Nixon finance chairman in Arkansas. In 1976, Pollard supported U.S. President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., in the Arkansas delegate primary against Ronald W. Reagan. Pollard was the co-chairman of the housing committee for the 1976 Republican National Convention
held in Kansas City
, Missouri. However, he did not attend the convention but instead sent his alternate delegate.
In his capacity as state GOP chairman, Pollard often debated in public forums the staunch Democrat Perrin Jones, editor emeritus of the Searcy Daily Citizen
newspaper and an ally of former Governor Faubus.
Pollard left the chairmanship in December 1970, and the state executive committee chose Charles Taylor Bernard
, a businessman engaged in dry cleaning
from Earle
in Cross County in eastern Arkansas. Bernard had been the unsuccessful GOP candidate in 1968 against Democratic U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright
. When Rockefeller died in 1973, Pollard followed as Republican national committeeman, a post that Rockefeller had first filled in 1961, after the retirement of party veteran Wallace Townsend. Pollard was national committeeman until 1976, when U.S. Representative John Paul Hammerschmidt assumed the position while remaining a member of Congress.
, later a psychologist
in Little Rock, who challenged David Pryor. Pollard urged nursing home owners to support Coon because Pryor had earlier pressed successfully for greater state and national regulation of such facilities. "He demeaned the nursing homes just so he could get national publicity," Pollard said of Pryor.
Pollard said he was grateful for each gain made by the Arkansas GOP though there was little success in many election cycles. "We didn’t broaden the party as much as needed. We should have contested more county offices," he said, noting that his own White County, once fully Democratic, has become receptive to Republican candidates.
against Jim Guy Tucker
, later the state's Democratic governor from 1993-1996. In 1978, Bethune won the House seat based about Little Rock. Pollard was Bethune’s finance chairman. Bethune left the House in 1984 to wage a losing bid against U.S. Senator David Pryor, whose son, Mark Pryor
, now holds the same seat and was unopposed for reelection in 2008.
's unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
based in Nashville
, Tennessee
. Pollard has three stepchildren from the second marriage.
In 2010, Searcy introduced nonpartisan
ballots for municipal elections. Pollard voiced support for the change voted upon by the city council: "It is probably good for the city and for White County. It might weaken the Republican Party in Searcy, but not an appreciative amount."
Searcy, Arkansas
Searcy is the largest city and county seat of White County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 20,663. It is the principal city of the Searcy, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of White County...
, the seat of White County
White County, Arkansas
White County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 77,076. The county seat is Searcy. White County is Arkansas's 31st county, formed on October 23, 1835, from portions of Independence, Jackson, and Pulaski counties and named for Hugh Lawson White, a...
in central Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, who was a pioneer in the revitalization of the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
in his state.
Early years
Pollard was born in ruralRural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
Union Hill in Independence County, Arkansas, to Joseph Franklin Pollard (1895–1981) and the former Beulah Scantlin (1893–1977) He attended a one-room school and then graduated from Oil Trough High School in a community with the unlikely name of Oil Trough
Oil Trough, Arkansas
Oil Trough is a town in Independence County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 218 at the 2000 census. The town is believed to have acquired its name in the early 19th century from a trough used to render bear fat, which was sold to customers in New Orleans...
in Independence County. He attended two years of liberal arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
instruction at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks...
and then entered the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. While in the military, he studied engineering subjects at Mississippi College
Mississippi College
Mississippi College, also known as MC, is a private, Christian university located in Clinton, Mississippi. Mississippi College comprises the main campus in Clinton, as well as satellite campuses in Brandon and Madison, Mississippi, and the Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson...
in Clinton
Clinton, Mississippi
Clinton is a city in Hinds County, Mississippi, United States. Situated in the Jackson metropolitan area, it is the tenth largest city in Mississippi. The population was 23,347 at the 2000 United States Census.-History:...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
. He also studied for a time at Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
in New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
but did not receive a bachelor’s degree. Instead he received a law degree in January 1950 from the University of Arkansas. On April 29, 1950, his 23rd birthday, he began a 55-year law practice in Searcy. In his later years, he specialized in estate planning
Estate planning
Estate planning is the process of anticipating and arranging for the disposal of an estate. Estate planning typically attempts to eliminate uncertainties over the administration of a probate and maximize the value of the estate by reducing taxes and other expenses...
, insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
defense, and product failure issues.
Pollard as a Democrat
Pollard was a DemocratDemocratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
until 1958, when he voted in his last primary of that party, the nomination of which was for more than a century the equivalent to election in Arkansas. His disillusionment with the Democratic Party began in 1951, when he attended the Young Democrats National Convention in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. Having seen election corruption in Arkansas throughout the 1950s, he switched parties with the hope of bringing forth political competition. As free enterprises flourishes with many choices in the market, so could government, he reasoned. In 1958, Pollard exposed a voter corruption case in Bald Knob
Bald Knob, Arkansas
Bald Knob is a city in White County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 3,210 at the 2000 census. Located at the intersection of two of the state's natural regions, Bald Knob is often promoted as "where the Ozarks meet the Delta". Bald Knob is also a leading strawberry producer in the...
, a small city near Searcy in White County. Election workers cast "absentee ballots" for some thirty pipeline construction workers and their spouses. However, these workers were outside of Arkansas at the time of the election, which included a prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
measure on the ballot, and they did not cast absentee votes, according to their affidavits, presented by Pollard to the White County prosecutor, who declined to take action until after the statute of limitations
Statute of limitations
A statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...
had expired, at which time the charges were rendered moot.
Pollard and Faubus
In 1954, as a Democrat, Pollard had supported the Republican gubernatorial candidate Pratt C. RemmelPratt C. Remmel
Pratt Cates Remmel, Sr. , was the only 20th century Republican elected on a partisan ballot to have served as mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas. He was elected to the first of two two-year terms in 1951, was reelected in 1953, and then defeated in 1955 by the Democrat Woodrow Wilson Mann, who like...
, then the mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Little Rock
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
. Six years later, he supported Henry M. Britt
Henry M. Britt
Henry Middleton Britt, III , was a Hot Springs lawyer who was a pioneer in the revitalization of the Republican Party in the heavily Democratic state of Arkansas, primarily during the 1960s and 1970s. He was the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1960, having been decisively defeated by Orval...
, the Republican nominee for governor, later a judge in Garland County. Both Remmel and Britt waged their races against Democrat Orval E. Faubus.
On one occasion, Pollard visited Faubus' home in Huntsville
Huntsville, Arkansas
Huntsville is a city in mountainous Madison County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,046 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Madison County. During the American Civil War it was the site of what became known as the Huntsville Massacre...
in Madison County
Madison County, Arkansas
Madison County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 15,717. The county seat is Huntsville. The county was formed on September 30, 1836, and named for James Madison, President of the United States...
in northwestern Arkansas, where he was shown Faubus’ impressive display of state newspapers touching on all aspects of the former governor’s political career. Pollard said that Faubus immediately found newspaper articles in which Pollard had criticized Faubus' policies and showed them to his guest in jest. Pollard said that he learned that Faubus had become disillusioned with some of his former political allies who defected in 1974 to David H. Pryor, Faubus’ successful intraparty rival in the gubernatorial primary.
By 1964, Pollard was active in the Winthrop Rockefeller
Winthrop Rockefeller
Winthrop Rockefeller was a politician and philanthropist who served as the first Republican Governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction. He was a third-generation member of the Rockefeller family.-Early life:...
campaign, but Rockefeller also lost that year to Faubus.
State party chairmanship under Rockefeller
In 1966, Rockefeller rebounded to win the governorship, having defeated the Democrat James D. JohnsonJames D. Johnson
James Douglas Johnson, known as Justice Jim Johnson , was a former associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, a two-time candidate for governor of Arkansas in 1956 and 1966, and in 1968 an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S...
of Conway
Conway, Arkansas
Conway is the county seat of Faulkner County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 58,908 at the 2010 census, making Conway the seventh most populous city in Arkansas. It is a principal city of the Little Rock–North Little Rock–Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area which had...
in Faulkner County, the first Arkansas Republican to hold the state's top executive position since Reconstruction. Pollard served as state party chairman from 1966–1970, corresponding with the Rockefeller years. Years later, he described Rockefeller as "a dedicated man who tried to do a lot of good for the state of Arkansas. He and I saw things exactly the same way."
Because Arkansas state Republican chairman John Paul Hammerschmidt
John Paul Hammerschmidt
John Paul Hammerschmidt is an American politician from the U.S. state of Arkansas. A Republican, Hammerschmidt served for thirteen terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from the northwestern Arkansas district before he retired in 1993...
, a businessman from Harrison
Harrison, Arkansas
Harrison is a city in Boone County, Arkansas, United States. It is the county seat. According to 2007 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 13,108. Boone County was organized in 1869, during reconstruction after the civil war. Harrison was platted and made the county seat. It is...
and a Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
winner, was elected to Congress in 1966, an election was held by state GOP committee members on December 10 of that year to choose a new party leader. Pollard, the party's general counsel, ran. So did the North Little Rock
North Little Rock, Arkansas
the city was 62.55% White, 33.98% Black or African American, 0.41% Native American, 0.59% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.18% from other races, and 1.26% from two or more races...
veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
Wayne H. Babbitt
Wayne H. Babbitt
Wayne H. Babbitt was a Republican politician in the U.S. state of Arkansas, who in 1972 became the only member of his party ever to oppose the reelection of entrenched Democratic U.S. Senator John L. McClellan.-Family:...
, the sitting vice chairman. Four days before the election, however, Babbitt withdrew in Pollard's favor but with a warning: "It saddens me greatly to witness the strife and controversy that has been created by the race for chairmanship of our party. . . . We can ill afford the price of such unnecessary fighting among ourselves. It this doesn't cease at once, a sharp division in our ranks will be created that could last for years to come."
There was no ideological split between Pollard and Babbitt. The Rockefeller aide, Everett Ham, said that Babbitt "rubbed Win {Rockefeller} the wrong way, and that's who got the election." The since defunct Arkansas Gazette
Arkansas Gazette
The Arkansas Gazette, known as the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi River, and located from 1908 until its October 18, 1991 closing at the now historic Gazette Building, was for many years the newspaper of record for Little Rock and the State of Arkansas...
called Pollard "the voice of compromise," who though allied with the more liberal side of the party had also worked well with the conservative faction.As chairman, Pollard urged caution regarding Republican patronage: "Let us be sure that we do not ask the governor to appoint people who would not be good public servants," a position also held by Hammerschmidt.
Pollard and the Republican State Committee instructed county chairmen to appoint special committees to handle recommendations for state job appointments at the county level. These committees were also told to consider Democratic and African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
input in the selections. In January 1967, Pollard rejected the composition of the special committee in Conway County, with the view that it did not reflect the campaign organization which worked for Rockefeller's election. Most of the state jobs were assigned to Democrats, a sore point with many Republican county chairmen.One Republican county chairman, angered over a Rockefeller Democratic appointment to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, vowed in anger to work against the Republican Party in the next election.It was reported in May 1970 that of 476 Rockefeller appointees to state boards and commission, only 86 had contributed money to the state Republican party.
Pollard noted that Rockefeller appointed the first African Americans to many state and local offices, including the Arkansas Selective Service System
Selective Service System
The Selective Service System is a means by which the United States government maintains information on those potentially subject to military conscription. Most male U.S. citizens and male immigrant non-citizens between the ages of 18 and 25 are required by law to have registered within 30 days of...
boards. By 1967, Arkansas was second in the ratio of white-to-black draft board members. In Little Rock, 28 percent of the draft board consisted of blacks, and all were Rockefeller appointees.Pollard also urged his party to be "flexible" to make it easier to elect the party's national ticket as well as Republicans in state races.
Before he left the chairmanship, Pollard disclosed that Rockefeller was financing one third of the Republican state budget for 1968 and had given even more to the party committee in the past. But he did not reveal the exact extent of Rockefeller's financial aid. Rockefeller had also permitted the party to rent space at a vastly reduced rate in his Tower Building in Little Rock.
Pollard was recommended for a vacant U.S. District Court judgeship in Little Rock, but the appointment from President Nixon went to G. Thomas Eisele, another Rockefeller partisan. State Court Judge Henry M. Britt had also been considered to fill the vacancy.
Pollard was a delegate to the 1968
1968 Republican National Convention
The 1968 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States was held in at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Dade County, Florida, from August 5 to August 8, 1968....
and, while no longer chairman, to the 1972
1972 Republican National Convention
The 1972 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States was held from August 21 to August 23, 1972 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida. It nominated the incumbents Richard M. Nixon of California for President and Spiro T. Agnew of Maryland for Vice...
Republican national conventions in Miami Beach
Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. In 1972, he was the Nixon finance chairman in Arkansas. In 1976, Pollard supported U.S. President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., in the Arkansas delegate primary against Ronald W. Reagan. Pollard was the co-chairman of the housing committee for the 1976 Republican National Convention
1976 Republican National Convention
The 1976 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States met at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, from August 16 to August 19, 1976. The convention nominated incumbent Gerald Ford for President, but only after narrowly defeating a strong challenge from former California...
held in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Missouri. However, he did not attend the convention but instead sent his alternate delegate.
In his capacity as state GOP chairman, Pollard often debated in public forums the staunch Democrat Perrin Jones, editor emeritus of the Searcy Daily Citizen
The Daily Citizen (Searcy)
The Daily Citizen is a newspaper which is published every day except for Monday at 3000 East Race Street, Searcy, Arkansas 72143. According to its website, the paper was founded in 1854.List of officers:*Publisher: Mike Murphy*Editor: Jacob Brower...
newspaper and an ally of former Governor Faubus.
Pollard left the chairmanship in December 1970, and the state executive committee chose Charles Taylor Bernard
Charles T. Bernard
Charles Taylor Bernard, Sr. , is a former American politician and businessman from Earle in Crittenden County in eastern Arkansas, best known as the 1968 Republican nominee for the United States Senate seat held by long-time Democratic incumbent J...
, a businessman engaged in dry cleaning
Dry cleaning
Dry cleaning is any cleaning process for clothing and textiles using a chemical solvent other than water. The solvent used is typically tetrachloroethylene , abbreviated "perc" in the industry and "dry-cleaning fluid" by the public...
from Earle
Earle, Arkansas
Earle is a city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 3,036 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Earle is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land....
in Cross County in eastern Arkansas. Bernard had been the unsuccessful GOP candidate in 1968 against Democratic U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright
J. William Fulbright
James William Fulbright was a United States Senator representing Arkansas from 1945 to 1975.Fulbright was a Southern Democrat and a staunch multilateralist who supported the creation of the United Nations and the longest serving chairman in the history of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee...
. When Rockefeller died in 1973, Pollard followed as Republican national committeeman, a post that Rockefeller had first filled in 1961, after the retirement of party veteran Wallace Townsend. Pollard was national committeeman until 1976, when U.S. Representative John Paul Hammerschmidt assumed the position while remaining a member of Congress.
Managing the Coon campaign, 1974
In the 1974 gubernatorial election, Pollard was a campaign strategist for Republican nominee Ken CoonKen Coon
Kenneth Lloyd "Ken" Coon, Sr. , is a Little Rock educator, professional psychologist, and counselor who was also a pioneer in the development of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Arkansas. He was the GOP state chairman from 1988—1990...
, later a psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
in Little Rock, who challenged David Pryor. Pollard urged nursing home owners to support Coon because Pryor had earlier pressed successfully for greater state and national regulation of such facilities. "He demeaned the nursing homes just so he could get national publicity," Pollard said of Pryor.
Pollard said he was grateful for each gain made by the Arkansas GOP though there was little success in many election cycles. "We didn’t broaden the party as much as needed. We should have contested more county offices," he said, noting that his own White County, once fully Democratic, has become receptive to Republican candidates.
Law partner Ed Bethune
Pollard is a former law partner of former U.S. Representative Edwin R. Bethune, who left the firm in 1972 to wage an unsuccessful bid for Arkansas attorney generalArkansas Attorney General
The Arkansas Attorney General is an executive position and constitutional officer within the Arkansas government. The Attorney General is the chief law enforcement/legal officer and lawyer for Arkansas. The position is elected every four years, e.g...
against Jim Guy Tucker
Jim Guy Tucker
James "Jim" Guy Tucker, Jr. is an Arkansas political figure. He served as the 43rd Governor of Arkansas, the 11th Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas, Arkansas Attorney General, and U.S. Representative...
, later the state's Democratic governor from 1993-1996. In 1978, Bethune won the House seat based about Little Rock. Pollard was Bethune’s finance chairman. Bethune left the House in 1984 to wage a losing bid against U.S. Senator David Pryor, whose son, Mark Pryor
Mark Pryor
Mark Lunsford Pryor is the senior United States Senator from Arkansas, serving since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party and former Attorney General of Arkansas....
, now holds the same seat and was unopposed for reelection in 2008.
Supporting Mike Huckabee
In 2008, Pollard contributed to the Arkansas Republican Party and former Governor Mike HuckabeeMike Huckabee
Michael "Mike" Dale Huckabee is an American politician who served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate in the 2008 United States Republican presidential primaries, finishing second in delegate count and third in both popular vote and number of states won . He won...
's unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
Family and retirement
Pollard has been twice married. His first union to the former Sammy Lane Lewis (1930–1980) ended with her death. She is interred at White County Memorial Gardens in Searcy. In 1990, Pollard married Imogene Stroud Hewitt (born 1925), a widow. He has three children from his first marriage, Laura Lane Pollard Roussel (born 1956), Paula P. Gray, and Mark Odell Pollard (born 1964), who is a captain for Continental AirlinesContinental Airlines
Continental Airlines was a major American airline now merged with United Airlines. On May 3, 2010, Continental Airlines, Inc. and UAL, Inc. announced a merger via a stock swap, and on October 1, 2010, the merger closed and UAL changed its name to United Continental Holdings, Inc...
based in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. Pollard has three stepchildren from the second marriage.
In 2010, Searcy introduced nonpartisan
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....
ballots for municipal elections. Pollard voiced support for the change voted upon by the city council: "It is probably good for the city and for White County. It might weaken the Republican Party in Searcy, but not an appreciative amount."